Two games, five homers, 40 runs for hot-hitting Grizzlies

Wednesday

Apr 16, 2008 at 2:00 AMJan 21, 2011 at 8:26 AM

Joe Zavala,Ashland Daily Tidings

EAGLE POINT &

Lewis Sebrell fired out of his crouched position behind home plate and raced down the first-base line. The throw to first was perfect, but Sebrell was there anyway, backing up just in case. He then turned his head to the Ashland High dugout with a smile. "I get a Twinkie," he said. "I beat (the runner)."

There were plenty of Twinkies for the Grizzlies Tuesday. And meatballs. And taters. Ashland didn't let anything go to waste, either, feasting on Eagle Point 20-1 and 20-3 in a mammoth display of power that included five home runs and 14 extra-base hits in front of a stunned crowd at Eagle Point High School.

The Southern Sky Conference doubleheader sweep improved No. 6-ranked Ashland to 13-2 overall and 6-0 in the SSC and dropped the Eagles to 4-9 and 1-5.

Charlie Sebrell (6-1) and Sam Gaviglio (5-0) each picked up a win on the mound for the Grizzlies, with Sebrell going the first three innings of Game — and Gaviglio pitching the first two innings of Game 2. Ashland's aces probably could have sat out this twin bill, however, as the Grizzlies built huge early leads in both games and piled it on after that.

"I've never seen a team hit the ball like that," said Ashland head coach Don Senestraro, whose team finished the day with 27 hits. "I know Crater had a pretty good hitting team last year, but wow, that was pretty amazing."

In the opener, Ashland scored eight runs in the first inning &

the final four on Max Gordon's grand slam to left. It was Gordon's first homer since Little League.

The Grizzlies added two in the second, four in the third, one in the fourth, and then came the exclamation point &

an Ian Kendall line drive home run that put Ashland ahead 17-1.

"(Kendall's homer) got only 15 feet off the ground," Senestraro said, exaggerating, but not by much.

Kendall went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored in the opener, Matt Dierks was 2-for-2 with a pair of doubles, Owen Baldrica was 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Lewis Sebrell was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Game 2 was more of the same, with Ashland taking a 5-0 first-inning lead this time on the strength of a Baldrica bomb. That was more than enough for Gaviglio, who has given up one earned run in 32 innings of work.

Ashland didn't let up though. It added four more runs in the second then buried the Eagles with 11 in a third inning that included 15 Ashland batters and Garrett Tygerson's mammoth shot over the scoreboard in left-center field.

"Everything we hit, we hit hard," Senestraro said.

Gaviglio went 2-for-2 with four RBIs and a home run, Tygerson was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and three runs scored and Nick Hall was 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored.

The offensive explosion overshadowed what turned out to be another solid pitching effort for the Ashland staff, as four Grizzlies &

Sebrell, Gaviglio, Tyler Killeen and Tygerson &

combined to allow just eight hits and four runs in 10 innings of work. They struck out seven without a walk.

The hitting spree &

Ashland has won its last four games by a combined score of 60-4 &

also brought up another question. How can the pitching staff keep its edge if the Grizzlies keep blowing away their SSC competition?

"I'm going to try to give (the starters) at least three innings and that'll keep them sharp," Senestraro said. "Somehow or another we'll keep everybody sharp, even if we have to do intrasquad games."